Definition : High raw

[Scarlett]

Hi there. Can someone explain what high raw means? I'm new and an eager student.
Cheerfully
Scarlett

[Eveleaf]

"High Raw" probably means something different to everyone. For me it means I eat raw, but I don't stress out saying I HAVE to be 100% or, you know, I fail. I probably AM eating 100% or close to it, but you sort of never know with some items if they are truly raw or not, even if they say they are. So, no stress for me. I'm high raw and loving it!

Cheers,
Eve

[denisedeland]

I'm glad you asked this.. I have been wondering the same myself...

Denise

[paleogirl]

I think I read it was 50%+ raw, but that seems awfully low to be high! And to me, 50% raw should just be a standard diet! I consider myself high raw because I don't eat anything cooked than can be eaten raw, but I do drink green tea.

[jaurequi]

I don't assume any percentage when I read/hear someone claim to be high raw. What I infer is that they consume more raw than cooked; that's all. That's pretty safe, but not a guarantee, of course.

Best,

[Cinnamon]

I've heard this term many times in raw food books from various authors and websites. To be considered a "raw foodist" this usually means a person is eating 75% raw. As far as a definition goes for "high raw" I have seen many variations slightly under 100%.

Personally I don't worry about a percentage, it is just all part of my raw journey regardless of the % I may try to attach to it.

[paleogirl]

It almost always refers to 75% raw foods being eaten. As far as a definition goes, this seems to be the most popular one!

It's funny, but after being high raw for a little over 3 months, the idea of eating anyhing LESS than 75% raw seems weird to me. :eek: I guess the mental adjustment is complete. :)

[Gosia]

"Raw" is usually defined to be at least 70%.

"High raw" means to be close to 100%, but not 100%.

Gosia

[Scarlett]

Hi All
Thanks for your responses. I have a clearer idea at least.
Cheerfully
Scarlett

[RawNut]

I've heard this term many times in raw food books from various authors and websites. It almost always refers to 75% raw foods being eaten. As far as a definition goes, this seems to be the most popular one!

But, is that by weight, volume, percentage of calories? How does anyone really know. I'm not arguing with you, just the whole concept. If one had some fruit for breakfast, a green smoothie for lunch, and a calorie-dense, water-lacking, and nutrient-lacking supper, would that be 67% raw? See what I mean?

When I'd slip up in the past, I'd just say to myself, "well, I'm 'high raw'." Then, I'd end up eating more and more cooked and processed food because of it. In my opinion, cooked food is just as addictive as heroin or cocaine and should be treated as such. Alissa makes a very good analogy in her book about it. When one detoxes from such drugs, they crave it fiercely. The same is true about cooked food but it's worse with cooked food because it's so available to most of us.

Sorry for the rant,

Craig

[Gosia]

Any percentage would have to be calculate by calories, rather than by volume. Otherwise, it is not a good estimate. This means that when one slips and have a whole cooked dinner, their percentage won't be really close to 100%, so they won't be high raw. But if they have a handful of cashews and eat all-raw otherwise, then they will be high raw. Some use spices or salad dressings that are not raw, and eat all-raw otherwise. This would also make them high raw. I hope that helps.

In the initial weeks of transtition to raw, gradually increasing the % of raw can ease the process. For example, I started with eating raw until the evening cooked dinner. Then, I switched to raw dinners as well.

Best,
Gosia

PS 75% is raw, not high raw.

[RawNut]

Any percentage would have to be calculate by calories, rather than by volume. Otherwise, it is not a good estimate. This means that when one slips and have a whole cooked dinner, their percentage won't be really close to 100%, so they won't be high raw. But if they have a handful of cashews and eat all-raw otherwise, then they will be high raw. Some use spices or salad dressings that are not raw, and eat all-raw otherwise. This would also make them high raw. I hope that helps.

In the initial weeks of transtition to raw, gradually increasing the % of raw can ease the process. For example, I started with eating raw until the evening cooked dinner. Then, I switched to raw dinners as well.

Best,
Gosia

PS 75% is raw, not high raw.

That IS helpful regarding the percentage of "high raw" and condiments, but I must disagree that 75% is raw. I agree that if you slip up, you can still consider yourself raw but if you purposely eat only 75% raw, you are 75% raw. When one eats only 75% vegan, is that vegan?

Thanks for your thoughts,

Craig

[Gosia]

Craig, I understand your sentiments and I do not like that definition of raw either. Nevertheless, this is how raw has been defined traditionally for years within the raw food community. Perhaps it is time to change that tradition. I too would prefer raw to mean all-raw.

Gosia

[RawNut]

Gosia,

I like that you disagree with the traditional definition. Language is dynamic and ultimatly defined by its usage. So, If we start using "raw" to mean "all-raw," perhaps we can start a language revolution of sorts.

Now that I know, I'll give both the traditional definition as well as our preferred definition, when encountering posts such as this.

Craig

[SNMB]

Yeah, I'd consider myself high raw and I eat some non-raw spices and the occasional treat purchased at the store prepared with non-raw cashews.

[Gosia]

I am happy to support this change as well. :)

Gosia

[RawNut]

:) ;)

Craig

[Tombi]

Hmmmmmmmmm So "high raw" is anything from 75%-99.9%? So how do you measure what percentage you are eating on a daily, weekly, monthly bases? And is the percentage based on daily, weekly or monthly?

[Sharon in Colorado]

It is interesting that this subject is on here, just tonight I was listening to Alissa on the raw vegan podcast, speaking about percentages. If you are high raw or whatever, there is no fine line she says. You could easily go out with friends or to a party or whatever and decide to eat cooked, then the next day eat raw.

There is no line because are you 70, 80, 90 % or what? And everytime I've gone "high" raw, I was never able to stay that way. Slowly I would slip back into half-raw and then mostly cooked. I find very few people who are able to stay "high" raw.

And as one of the earlier posters wrote, are you basing that on volume, calories, meals? It just gets too complicated, for me anyway, just easier to be all raw and there is no way around eating something here and there cooked. You just don't do it.

[Tombi]

" It just gets too complicated, for me anyway, just easier to be all raw and there is no way around eating something here and there cooked. You just don't do it."

LOL Sharon I have to agree with you on that one I guess because I am so simple that if things get too complicated I can't possibly do them! :D This must be the secret to my raw success. I would go crazy trying to figure out percentage. Not to offend anyone who does but it doesn't really doesn't make any sense to me. How is it calculated? All I know is Raw is Raw. If I am say 90% Raw that means that eating a cheeseburger is okay because that would be my 10%? :confused:

I gotta go with Alissa...Just eat raw...try it for 30 days...have fun!!

[Eveleaf]

" It just gets too complicated, for me anyway, just easier to be all raw and there is no way around eating something here and there cooked. You just don't do it."

LOL Sharon I have to agree with you on that one I guess because I am so simple that if things get too complicated I can't possibly do them! :D This must be the secret to my raw success. I would go crazy trying to figure out percentage. Not to offend anyone who does but it doesn't really doesn't make any sense to me. How is it calculated? All I know is Raw is Raw. If I am say 90% Raw that means that eating a cheeseburger is okay because that would be my 10%? :confused:

I gotta go with Alissa...Just eat raw...try it for 30 days...have fun!!

I can certainly see the pitfalls of getting sucked into percentages. And that's why IMO if you know you are 75% raw or 90% raw then I wouldn't say you are "high raw." If you have a percentage you structure your life by, then go by your percentage and leave out the "high" since it's a bit misleading.

If every day or every week you are looking to fit that little bit of cooked food in, then I would say you are not high raw.

To me (and this is just me) high raw means trying to be 100%, not trying to be anything less. It's putting the positive focus on your goal of just eating raw foods, but taking the "sting" out of the term "100%."

See, if I say I am 100%, then I swallow a GNAT, or take an ibuprofen, or use a household cleaner and inhale some of it, or darn it, that honey labeled "raw" isn't actually raw, then I've FAILED and I'm not actually 100% raw. It's a constant battle of "I am 100%" "No, wait, I'm not."

For me, the term "high raw" removes that battle and just let's me be what I am: RAW.

Cheers,
Eve

[Pailani]

See, if I say I am 100%, then I swallow a GNAT,

Unless you cooked the gnat first, you'd still be raw. :D

[Eveleaf]

Ha! That was funny.

On the other hand, a raw gnat is actually NOT a part of the raw lifestyle any more than raw eggs. So, I think you'd still be dealing with guilt.

Thanks for the laugh. :)

Cheers,
Eve

[Sharon in Colorado]

When one eats only 75% vegan, is that vegan?




We could also say that EVERYBODY is a part time vegan, because not everyone eats ONLY animal food ALL the time. So in that sense percentages are silly.

I could say my family is 80% vegan, and 50% raw. The other 20% and 50% are animal foods and cooked. See how ridiculous this is.

When you label yourself a raw foodist, a Christian, an animal lover, a wife or husband, you aren't one part of the time. That is who you are. So it doesn't make sense to say you are a high raw foodist, a high christian, a high animal lover or a high wife or husband. In that sense, people need to be careful of labeling themselves I think.

If you are eating mostly or all raw food, then just say it: "I eat mostly raw food" or "I eat all raw vegan food" instead of giving yourself a label and percentage. That makes it much clearer to the listener and gets the right message across.

On another note, for the most part I don't go around telling people WHAT I am, but I tell them WHAT I DO, I say "I eat XX" instead of "I am XX"

This just makes things easier for me, personally.

[Pailani]

On the other hand, a raw gnat is actually NOT a part of the raw lifestyle any more than raw eggs.

It's not a part of the raw vegan lifestyle, which is the type of raw eating that this board supports, but not all raw foodists are raw vegans.

[Pailani]

If you are eating mostly or all raw food, then just say it: "I eat mostly raw food" or "I eat all raw vegan food" instead of giving yourself a label and percentage.

I guess I need to change my siggie, then. I had no idea that labeling the period of time when I was slipping at night as "high raw" gave people the impression that I was striving for 100 percent but possibly consuming things I didn't know about. By that definition, I'm high raw right now. I like that -- "mostly raw." That's what I was when I was slipping - I was consuming green smoothies almost all day, but then succumbing to temptation at night. Now I consider myself 100 percent raw - but maybe technically I'm only high raw.

[Lay-Lay]

I think that all those who are labeled "100% raw" at one time or another my consume something that may or may not be raw. The difference is do you know it is raw or not? If you have done all you can to remain 100% raw, yet you have some raw butter and then 5 weeks from now your reading on raw food talk that that raw butter is in fact not raw, why I say beat yourself up? You are bound to eat something not ideal, but that doesn't make you less raw. Relax, have fun and just eat raw! Don't get so caught up on label making. Label making is not so important. I eat 100% raw, but I have questioned a few things and in some cases I ate them not knowing 100% for sure whether or not it was raw, but I was 99% sure it was. I checked the label, I tried a tiny bit on my finger to see if it was or wasn't and then I made my choose. I think my body can tell the difference between raw and not raw and I don't think it has failed me yet. ;)

[RawNut]

If you are eating mostly or all raw food, then just say it: "I eat mostly raw food" or "I eat all raw vegan food" instead of giving yourself a label and percentage. That makes it much clearer to the listener and gets the right message across.


That's something like what I'd say when I was trying to be vegetarian. If I ordered something like a veggie burger, and people asked if I was a vegetarian. I'd just tell them that I try to be whenever I can. I wasn't strict but if there was a vegetarian choice, I'd choose it, if not, I'd try to make it fish or chicken.

I agree too about the silliness factor of percentages. "Dick and Jane each take in less than 25% of their calories from alcohol. They are non-drinkers."
:)

Eveleaf, was that an organic gnat or had it been feasting on cooked, non-organic humans?

Craig

[rawpriestess]

with this logic, then we are all fasting every day, for many hours. LOL

then in the am, we break our fast, with breakfast.

I think if you eat 100% raw, or that is what your intention is, then you are raw,

if you eat less than 100% raw, (and you do it deliberately) like eating canned peaches for instance, then you are high raw.

I don't think eating a few cashews or some cacao nibs makes you NOT raw.

I do think eating a piece of meat at dinner makes you high raw, if it is the only non raw thing you are eating, as many do.

But that is my opinion, and everyone has a right to their own opinion.

I don't worry about such things, unless it impacts me directly, or someone askes me specifically.

[rawnpawgirl]

It just gets too darn confusing putting all these labels on stuff. I agree with Eveleaf. I try to just be RAW and but I know that my raw almond butter isn't really raw, I buy raw cashews at Whole Foods that I know are not TRULY raw but I am too lazy/cheap to order TRULY RAW cashews online. I will eat the occasional Lara Bar, or nutritional yeast or pure maple syrup or olives or tea or yerba mate which is not raw and I still consider myself RAW--even if I am 95-99.999% raw depending on the day. I never say high raw, I just say raw. So, sorry to all of you who think raw should only be applied to 100%. There is just too much of a fine line for me and I refuse to feel guilt when I am doing something so great for my health.

I do understand (and respect) that some people refuse to put anything questionably unraw into their bodies, I am just not one of those people. Somehow, i just don't feel like that cup of cashews is going to destroy me.

[Sharon in Colorado]

I guess I need to change my siggie, then. I had no idea that labeling the period of time when I was slipping at night as "high raw" gave people the impression that I was striving for 100 percent but possibly consuming things I didn't know about. By that definition, I'm high raw right now. I like that -- "mostly raw." That's what I was when I was slipping - I was consuming green smoothies almost all day, but then succumbing to temptation at night. Now I consider myself 100 percent raw - but maybe technically I'm only high raw.

I did used to say I ate high raw at one time, but due to all the questionablitiy of "how" much I was raw, or what I was eating, I just started saying I ate all raw. That meant I eat all raw, even if I was using something questionable in a recipe.

[RawNut]

with this logic, then we are all fasting every day, for many hours. LOL

then in the am, we break our fast, with breakfast.

I think if you eat 100% raw, or that is what your intention is, then you are raw,

if you eat less than 100% raw, (and you do it deliberately) like eating canned peaches for instance, then you are high raw.

I don't think eating a few cashews or some cacao nibs makes you NOT raw.

I do think eating a piece of meat at dinner makes you high raw, if it is the only non raw thing you are eating, as many do.

But that is my opinion, and everyone has a right to their own opinion.

I don't worry about such things, unless it impacts me directly, or someone askes me specifically.

I agree. No need for anyone to beat themselves up over eating something the thought to be raw. I loved cashews when I first started out. I've since learned that they aren't raw. If I had some today, I'd still consider myself raw but if I had some Planters cashews, I wouldn't. There is definatly a differance between "raw" and roasted nuts.

I'm not going to comment on the meat part.
:) I must have re-typed what I was going to say about 3 times. I just couldn't make it sound the way I wanted to come across.

Craig